FARRIERY.
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den stoppage of perspiration, from ravenous feeding, from hardTiding or violent exercise, and then there is a discharge of slimeor greasy matter ; or from worms. Sometimes it is the conse-quence of other diseases, and sometimes it is a or that discharge ofnoxious humours. With regard to tlx* prognostics, when it pro-needs from a sudden stoppage of perspiration, commonly called a 1cold, it-is never dangerous ; nor when it is'the ell eel of voraciousfeeding. The same may he said of that which succeeds hard la-bour. When scouring is habitual, it may go oil’ as the horse ad-vances in years, that is when he arrives at 7 or 8. That which ,succeeds or attends other diseases, cannot he judged of, without en-quiring into the nature of the disease itself. Besides it may some-times be critical, and then it will carry off the disease it accom-panies. When a looseness is spontaneous, and comes on withoutany previous evident cause, it is critical, and generally tends topreserve health and prevent diseases. And when it is from worms,the only way to cure it is to remove the cause. It is sometimesvery difficult to form a proper judgement when to controul or en-courage a looseness; but these rules may he a general direction:if a healthy full horse, on taking cold, or upon Iiard-riding, over-feeding, eating unwholesome food, or with a slight fever, shouldhave a moderate purging, by no means stop it, but rather encou-rage it with an open diet, and plenty of warm gruel: but if it con-tinue long, with gripings, the mucus of the bowels coming away,and the horse losing"his appetite and flesh, recourse must be hadto proper medicines. The drink, No. 12, may be given three orfour limes, so as to encourage the evacuation ot the offending mat-ter, before the use of astringents: or half an ounce of rhubarband two drachms of snake root, both in powder, may be given him ina horn or two of warm ale, every' 24 hours or oltener, for three orfour times. If he void great quantities ot slime and greasy mat-ter then add one scruple or half a drachm of/ipecacuanha, and thesame quantity of calomel to each dose, and make the whole into aball with a little opiate confection ; to be given once in 48 hours;or else, give one hall, No. 11, once in 48'"hours, till this state ofthe faeces be altered. tVhen by these means the stools become lessoffensive, and are no longer attended with griping or pain, but, bytheir frequency and consistence would continue to weaken thehorse if not checked, astringents may be proper to complete thecure. A quart of the drink, No. 15, or one of the balls, No. 4.I.I, may be given two, three, or four times a day, according to theurgency of the complaint. If the griping and purging continuenotwithstanding this treatment, and the discharge is attended withan acrid mucus or slime, and an evacuation of the common liningof the bowels, the starch clyster, No. 24, should be frequentlyinjected warm.
'I lie Bloody Flux is a distemper horses are not very subject to;however, as it sometimes docs occur, whenever blood is discharg-ed, attended with gripings and great pain in the bowels, if the fluxis not speedily restrained, the horse probably may be soon lost:we recommend therefore the astringent clyster, No. 25, to be in-jected whenever the looseness is observed io be severe.
. Costiveness in hordes is most frequent in hot weather, from anincreased perspiration, from being kept to hard dry meat, or fromwant ot air and exercise. Sometimes it becomes habitual, andthen the horse never enjoys full health, but grows lean with a fe-verish heat and a staring coal. When the heat of the weather oc-casions this disorder, an opening diet with scalded bran will ef-fect a cure, as well as in the other two cases; at most he needs havenothing more than from two to four oz. of Epsom salt, dissolved'n water. But when it is become constitutional it is not so easilyremoved. It may happen, though very rarely, that a slow bellymay be no disease, but rather a sign of strength anda good digestionand then we have nothing to do but prevent its increase, with nowand then an opening diet. But when it produces the symptomsabove-mentioned, we must have recourse to a constant opening< let, together with emollients. The best opener is scalded barley;and he should have the water it was scalded with to drink. Alls rone purges are as bad as poison, and therefore must be carefullyavoided. I he horse must have such laxatives onlv as to produce* en effect without raising any commotion in the blood. Amongtese there is nothing more safe or certain than Epsom salt. Fouruncos may be dissolved in a pint of water and given him for a'-l 1 ' 3 ma y Be either increased or diminished accordingus operation, and according as it is intended to purge either
more or less. Fenugreek seeds and linseed, on account of theiroily mucilaginous quality, are very proper to render the guts slip-pery, and by that means -to make his dunging regular, lieshould have an ounce every day mixed with his teed.
Zoologists and veterinary authors have described three differentsoils ot worms that affect horses ; viz. Butts, which young horsesare often troubled with in spring ; the Kotundi, or those resem-bling earth worms ; and A'-carides, or those about the size of thelargest sewing needle, w ilh fiat Beads. The symptoms of wu.-rmsan- various. The botts that many horses are troubled with, in thebeginning of summer, are always seen sticking in the strait gut,and arc often thrust out with the (lung, with a yellowish coh.uredmailer like melted sulphur : they are no way dangerous there ;but are apt to make a horse restless and uneasy, and rub his breechagainst the posts. The season of their coming is usually in Mayand June ; after which they are seldom to be seen, and rarely con-tinue in hny horse above a fortnight or three weeks. Those thattake their lodgment in the stomach, are extremely dangerous bycausing convulsions ; and are seldom discovered by any previoussigns before they come to life, when they throw a horse into vio-lent agonies. The other kinds are more troublesome than danger-ous: but are known liy the following signs : the horse looks leanand jaded, his hair stairs as if he were surfeited, and nothing heeats makes him thrive ; lie often strikes his hind feet against hisbelly ; is sometimes griped, but without the violent symptoms thatattend a colic and strangury ; for he never rolls and tumbles, butonly shews uneasiness, and generally lies down quietly on his bellyfora little while, and then gets up and falls a feeding; but thesurest sign is when he voids them with his dung. For the cure ofbotts in the stomach, calomel should be given in large doses ; viz.to the extent of two drachms made up in a ball with one oz. ofani-seed powder, and a sufficient quantity of treacle. This to be putin overnight and wrought oil’ with a purging ball, No. 1 or 7,suited to the horse’s strength and constitution ; with the addition ofone drachm of oil of savin. This may be repeated every six oreight days ; and in the interval, let one of the vermifuge ppwders,No. 18, be given in his corn night and morning. Bolts in therectum may be cured by injecting the vermifuge clyster, No. 26,every morning, and using the powders above-mentioned. But asthe source of worms in general proceeds from a vitiated appetiteand a weak digestion, recourse must first be had to mercurials, andafterwards to such tilings as are proper to strengthen the stomach,promote the digestion, and by destroying the supposed ova, pre-vent the regeneration of these animals. For this purpose thetonic drink, No. 10, will be of considerable service.
Of Apoplexy or Staggers, Lethargy, Epilepsy , andPalsy.
Farriers generally include all distempers of the head under twodenominations, viz. staggers and convulsions, wherein they alwayssuppose the head primarily affected. But in treating of these dis-orders, we will distinguish' between those that are peculiar to thehead, as having their source originally thence; and those that areonly concomitants of some other disease.
In an Apoplexy a horse drops drown suddenly, without anyother sense or motion than a working at his flanks. There are va-rious degrees of this disease ; for when the voluntary motions andanimal functions, together with all sensation and consciousnesscease, the animal will fall down as if struck with a thunderbolt.But sometimes, though the senses remain unhurt, the voluntary mo-tions and animal functions cease ; or at least the sense of feeling iseither languid or quite abolished. The lirst case is called an apo-plexy, and the 2d a palsy. The apoplexy has three degrees ; thefirst takes away all sense and motion; the 2d the use of the willand all voluntary motions ; the 3d is a slight degree of the 2d, and: sometimes etuis in a palsy. This may be caused by anv thing thatcompresses the vessels of the brain ; by too great a quantity of bloovlwhen the horse is fed plentifully, with little exercise ;* by beingvery much over-heated so as to expand the blood and render ailthe vessels turgid; by any fluid shed outwardly outlie m/m-branes of the brain, from blows on the head or falls: by blood orserum poured into the brain itself,--and by its pressure hurting the
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